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A well-painted ceiling will greatly accent your wall paint and enhance the appearance of any room in your home. Check out these tips on how to paint a ceiling:
The standard color for interior ceilings is white or off-white. You can liven up the room by accenting the wall color with a mild yellow or light blue (depending on your color scheme). For a warmer feel try light earth tones (mocha brown, pastel green). Nature-inspired designs look great, though they can be more challenging to paint (sky with clouds, purple twilight).
It is important to properly prep the room before you begin to paint the ceiling. Remove all the pictures off the walls. Move large furniture to the center of the room. Lay down drop cloth on all your furniture and along every wall. Tape the edges of each wall and all of the light fixtures. Use blue painter’s tape on the walls you have already painted (doesn’t rip paint off when removed).
Use a 1” brush to carefully paint all the edges (tie-in) and around all of the difficult light fixtures. Some also prefer to the tie-in last. If you do the tie-in first you can always go back and fill in the missed areas at the end of your job. It also allows you to complete the more difficult part of the job first.
Pour your paint into a 5-gallon bucket. Attach an extension onto your roller. Dip the roller into the paint and use the roller grid to remove excess paint. Properly removing excess paint with the roller grid will prevent you from dripping paint all over the walls and the floor. You can also use a paint pan, although a bucket/roller grid are much more efficient for larger rooms
Start rolling the ceiling evenly in small sections, starting with creating a W-shape. Start from the right side of the ceiling if you are right-handed to make it easier (do the opposite if you are left-handed). Also, painting towards the window from the entry way will cause the light to hide the roller lines once the paint dries. Once you have painted an even coat, allow the paint to dry before applying the second coat (3-4 hours). Two coats should be sufficient for your ceiling, although a third coat might be needed if there are lots of stains or imperfections on the surface.
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